Let's take a look at a few of the these options:

Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression

Chiropractic Treatment

Physical Therapy

Oral and/or Injected Medication

Surgery

Spinal Decompression
Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression is a safe and painless solution to back and neck pain caused by herniated and degenerative discs, sciatica, stenosis, and even post surgery. It is a computerized procedure that locates the specific injured joints and creates a negative pressure. This allows for the appropriate nutrients and fluids to return to the disc and allow for proper healing of that disc. Scientific research has show an 86% success rate with patients suffering from herniated discs, and with SpineMed's 3rd generation technology this percentage has increased to 93%.  Post MRI's have shown significant improvements in the degeneration of and bulging of multiple discs.

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Chiropractic Treatment
Chiropractic treatment has been proven to help a majority of patients with various spinal injuries. For those cases where there has been severe disc degeneration, large herniations, and stenosis, chiropractic care has only been able to achieve limited results. For these particular cases it would be recommended to utilize Spinal Disc Decompression. A Doctor of Chiropractic would be able to help you determine which treatment plan would be best for you.

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Physical Therapy
Physical therapy has many different treatment plans varying from doctor to doctor and also varying in success and can be beneficial to those who have mild to moderate spinal injuries. With those that have more severe situations, it can actually create a negative effect on the injured area. Physical therapy is designed to strengthen the core muscles that are needed to support the body in its daily activities. Once the spine has regained proper functionality, physical therapy is highly recommended to help prevent any further injuries.

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Oral and Injected Medications
Most medication related treatments are geared towards masking the pain and not actually solving the underlying problem. They are only effective when you are taking the medication. There is some benefit to getting an injection that will reduce the inflamation and of course relieve some of the pain, but once the effects of the injection are gone you are left with the same situation as before. There has also been cases of infections caused by injections, which create a risk to that type of treatment plan.

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Surgical Treatment Options for Disc Herniations and Disc Bulges
Surgery should be saved as a last option. Surgery can be very painful, risky, and even costly. Most patients do not need surgery to overcome their spinal troubles. Patients that may have no other option than to forego conservative treatment and receive surgery include those with cauda equina syndrome (saddle dysesthesia, bilateral sciatica, motor weakness in the lower extremities and/or bladder control and loss of bowel) or progressive neurological deficit (loss of reflexes, motor weakness, etc.). The rest of the patients should look into the many other alternatives that could provide a much safer solution.

The failure rate of surgery for back pain and neck pain is very high. Some 200,000 patients undergo lumbar spine surgery every year. On average, approximately 53 percent of all lumbar spine disc surgeries fail to relieve symptoms according to a study published in International Orthopedics (1987; 11:255-259). The results from another study published in Spine (2004; 29[17]:1931-7) showed that 20-40 percent of patients will fail to gain the desired outcome and 10 percent of patients will be worse after the initial surgery. The same study followed the progress of 3,362 patients that received spinal surgery. The results of an SF-36 Health Survey showed that patients with a history of spine surgery fared significantly worse on areas such as physical functioning, general health and mental health compared to those patients with no prior history of spine surgery. The researchers went on to say that "previous back surgery is associated with significantly worse general health status than those without surgery...”

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